What Comes Out of the Mess

What Comes Out of the Mess

“These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.” -1 Peter 1:7

Have you ever gotten yourself into a mess? I sure have. Sometimes things don’t turn out quite like you plan. Or perhaps you make a mistake or maybe even do something intentionally, knowing full well it will bring about a catastrophe. But what can we do after the mess has occurred? How can we pick up the pieces and deal with the brokenness we find in front of us?

Perhaps you were caught doing drugs or cheating on a test. Maybe you were caught lying or stealing, or you got involved in a compromising situation. Perhaps it was a little more subtle. Maybe you didn’t do what you felt God wanted you to do. Whatever the case, getting into a mess is messy.

But once we’ve discovered the consequences of our actions, known or unknown to others, then what do we do?

The first step is to repent. Even if the mess was caused by something we were initially unaware was wrong, we need to repent and renounce our actions to become pure before God by saying, “God, I’m sorry. What I did was wrong. Please forgive me.” Even if you feel the situation is more than you can possibly bear, ask God if He will help you turn it around. We have to trust that in spite of our human frailties, God has the power to turn everything around, for good.

Have you seen something good come out of your mess? Everybody makes mistakes – it doesn’t matter who you are. But the key is taking those mistakes and learning from them. Often these lessons in life are the best jewels we could hope to find. And we may even discover something else works out in spite of our mess.